Rolly Polly

She rolls around the floor like it is nothing now. Back to front, front to back, in circles.

She is darn cute doing it too.

And pleased with herself.

Stay Little My Buddy

Sam has been a little sick this weekend. It looks like we are going to go through every illness California has in sequential order until we can be healthy and happy.

He has mostly been sleeping in my bed, calling "mommy" all night long.

This is him asleep in his bed.

Two pacifiers, his red blankie, his bear, his pillow, his big tiger, and his little tiger (which he usually calls lions)

He is such a cuddly guy- notice his arm around the bear.

I can't say having him asleep in my bed with me has been all cuddly and fun, as it has mostly been no sleep and crying and getting my pillow stolen.

But I do enjoy the little-ness of it.

My little guy.

Don't turn three ever please.

Grandpa Day

Grandpa Anderson came to visit for the day. He was driving through and spent the night (on thefuton in the play room). We enjoyed visiting with him until late at night. And a full morning withGrandpa spoiling kids. It included pancakes, present, and a trip to the park.




What fun it was to have our 1st visitor.

We loved every minute.

Coloring

The kids colored a lot in Heber. But since we moved they have not colored as much. They have alternatives like riding bikes outside. But this week the temperatures have dipped a bit- down into the 50's. ( I know right) So we have spent some time indoors again getting creative.
Kate draws Mom in a gated garden with flowers and a bird and a rainbow.
Kate puts stickers on a page then draws them a tree in a cage at the zoo.

A Little Lunch for M

Little M ate some food today.

Rice cereal, that lucky girl.

She had tried at Christmas, since she had opened some for Christmas as a gift.

But couldn't do it. swallow I mean.

Today was different.

An entire bowlful

Both mom and baby were pleased with these results.

We were back at the doctors for shots today.

Height 25 in 70 %

Weight 16.25 lbs 80 %

Head 16.5 60 %

Is that flat head effecting her head size? because my kids have never had a head below 80%.

A note- that means she has gained 1. 1/2 lbs in about 18 days.

Cupcakes and Woodward Park

Saturday afternoon we had big plans.
Our 1st Saturday in our new home town to do whatever we wanted.
So I planned a trip to a fancy cupcake place and a trip to the biggest park in the valley.

Since I am a sucker for treats, I couldn't resist a Groupon last week that got me 5 large and 2 mini cupcakes for free. After we stopped and each picked out a few of our favorites we had them boxed and went to the Woodwark Park.

Yes this little guy is cuter than the last time you saw him. No, I didn't realize that was possible either. I am realizing that he may be the only little boy I ever have, and it makes me sad to think he is already almost 3.

Kate wants to be a bigger kid so bad.

Should one of my new years resolutions be to finally learn how to do little girls hair.?

M gets dragged everywhere and she'd just rather be at home. What can I say- we are a "out and about" type of family.

Kate shows off her new shoes. All she really had was church shoes and boots. Nobody is wearing boots around here- it is 60 degrees. So we went and picked these out. I mean she did. Purple sparkles aren't really my style. But she saw them then claimed all the other shoes didn't fit. I let her try these on and before her foot was in the shoe she exclaimed in joy "they fit" hmmm. I think she had an agenda no?

The park was a little big for my little ones.

Kate made a cute friend though. Jake asked sadly whey there are never any little boys anywhere. It is true, poor Sam. And is it weird to say that my kids stuck out with their pale skin and white hair even more than usual? People even kept saying things about how blonde they are.

We headed to the duck pond.

Giving me another look. Stop breaking my heart with your cuteness.

yes you should totally surf on that rock Kate.

I hope Saturdays are full of more fun adventures and less chores from now on.

Mom is Crazy but it Makes for Fun

I'm a little nerotic when it comes to my kids. Especially their health.
Have you seen me whip out my full size can of Lysol at the resturant and spray down the table, or at the grocery store and spray down the entire cart.
Well that is me.
A few weeks ago our new pediatrican mentioned M's head was getting a little flat.
She has had some Torticollis since birth, and flat out refuses to turn her head to the right.
I'm sure those heavy cheeks don't make it any easier to lift that head.

I've tried to sleep her on a special pillow I got a few weeks ago, but she just screams and screams for an hour, and then I move it and she falls asleep sucking on her left thumb in less than 30 seconds.
We do stretches, and force her head to the right. When we remember- and hey we've been a bit busy ya know. And now that we are paying attention more, it seems like the toricollis is worse than I realized. And every minute I'm not holding her I feel like her head is getting flatter and flatter.
And it will make me so sad if her beautiful dark haired head gets stuck in a helmet.

So last night I ran out and bought a Jumperoo.
I had the idea one might help her at 7:00 pm. Looked on Amazon for ten minutes then decided I couldn't wait for two day shipping so I went to the store.
I hate Jumperoo things. They are expensive. They take up half the living room. And I feel like they make me a lazier mother. I have successfully avoided the purchase of one for my 1st two children. But I folded.
Partly out of guilt that the move distracted me so much the past two months that I didn't even notice her flat head. And that despite the pediatrician's instruction since her 2 week old appointment that we needed to stretch her neck, we have only done it a dozen or so times amist the chaos.
But mostly because it is a great idea. It was my own idea for therapy thank you.

I think the Jumperoo is going to work very well.
She can stay in it much longer than she can sit in her bumbo chair because it supports her better, and anything that gets her head off the ground is a plus...and the seat spins so hopefully something to her right will interest her and she will stretch those muscles a bit on her own.

The older kids love it. They asked if they could wake M up this morning so they could watch her play with it. They make the buttons go off and are always asking about when she can play in it.

Perhaps they are envious it didn't show up for them in their own infancy.

Sometimes I'm a little nerotic, but this time at least it ended up in some fun.

Rest + Snacks = Smiles

a few days of rest and relaxation.... and snacks, (don't mind the nutella and fish cracker on the kids faces) makes everyone seem like their happy selves again.

Sam even told me the Tooth Fairy was going to take his pacifiers tonight and leave him presents.

I'm not sure she dares.

Back to Preschool

I included this mis hap picture because if you look at Kate with her eyes half closed and her hair slicked back and her mouth covered- she looks just like Sam. It is a little spooky how much so for me their mother who never thought they looked so alike.
This post is really about Kate returning to preschool.

I was almost in a panic trying to find Kate a school. Mostly because she kept asking about it, and every time we would pass a school she would say " I found a school mom". Thinking that when I say "we will find a school" she meant like literally drive around and find one.

We didn't have to look too far. She is attending Creative Corner, a preschool done in a home by a woman in our ward. It is less legit than her other school, and more expensive, but it is also longer. She already loves it, mostly because you get to bring your own snack and for recess you go to the park and sit on a bench and eat your snack then get to play. There is a neighborhood park next door to the woman's home. And you get to bring show and tell every day.

Her teacher told me she was perfect.

I said- she didn't talk too much?

Her teacher said- no.

Either her teacher is lying or Kate was not her sure self in the new school today.

No worries, she seems content and nothing beats 9 kids playing at the park for 20 minutes mid school when you are a four year old.

Of course she was styling. She loves picking out her clothes for school all by herself.

After we picked her up me and the kids went to lunch at Panda Express. It is right around the corner and Kate's favorite meal is Chinese noodles.

We sat at the bar height table. This made their day. They are always asking to sit in the high tables but I never let them. But today we left Marianne asleep at home with Dad, so we could do it. We talked about school, and our fortunes.

Sam's said something about not over indulging.

He told me is said "no growing up"

That is what I am always telling him.

We have a new schedule for the new year.

The kids are excited to have a schedule too. They keep saying the word "schedule"

It is a cork board with their pictures then under pictures of tasks to complete before they can watch tv or play, or go outside. It worked awesome today. Sam chomped his toast down in four seconds flat because Kate was getting dressed - and then they listened to me as I helped them know what to do for the "clean room" picture. And were happy to complete it.

We are also doing our own little school, just Sam, Kate and I on the days kate doesn't go to preschool. It is mostly to help me with one new years resolution play more with my kids. Each day - once the schedule is done- we have songs, books, and projects while Marianne is napping. We've only done it one day so far, and it was tons of fun, for me and them. I think it will help Sam with what his resolution for the year should be- to sit and listen better to me and at church.

Back to the new year, new school and new schedule.

Fresh starts are always nice, but ours feels extra new.

Year Wrap Up

In between visiting with all of Jake's siblings out at the farm who have come from out of state for the holiday we've been doing a lot of this. It is what I call a cuddle puddle. Basically you get lots of blankets and pillows and throw them on the floor in front of the tv and watch movies. The kids have been recovering from colds, Kate from a double ear infection, and just the run around from all the time away from home and holidays and well we are still recovering from the move in general. So a cuddle puddle has been on our family room floor for days on end.

And yes, that baby's is even fatter than the last time you saw her. Every time I get her up from a nap she seems to have added a few ounces to her cheeks. She had a well check apt last week and was just under 15 lbs. Then eight days later we went for this cold. She was over 15 1/2 lb. 1/2 a week. That is a lot of chub.
This is my sweet M getting some medicine to get over her bronchitis. She is suppose to do this 10 minutes four times a day, and she has only screamed once about it, and that was mostly because she wanted to go to sleep and she couldn't get the thumb she likes to suck on in her mouth because the mask was in the way. Speaking of thumb, she is also now sleeping on a special pillow to help shape her head correctly because she is always sucking that same left thumb all night long. Marianne sure has more little silly health things than any other baby. Jaundice, sugars,not passing her hearing test, strep, ear infections, strep again, more ear infections, and now flat head therapy and a nebulizer. Some how she is still the best eater, best sleeper and happiest one of the crew.
Yesterday was New Year's Eve.

I'm old and not any fun anymore because I figured our plans were the night were putting the kids down and going to bed ourselves. Jake felt some celebration was in order, so he rounded up ice cream, lots of fun toppings and some party whistles for the kids while I got them ready for bed. We did our countdown at 8:00 pm. Kate thought it was awesome though she totally did not understand what it was for. She had us do the count down like ten times because she liked blowing the whistle when we finished counting. We talked about resolutions. Her 1st resolution was to eat ice cream on her birthday. Hmmm. Try again. She decided it was to get a bigger bike. We helped her make that into learn to ride a bike without training wheels. Of course Jake and I discussed more serious resolutions for ourselves and family over the ice cream covered in sprinkles.
M liked sucking on her party whistle and starred at the ice cream like it was for her.
Kate kept getting more ice cream and decorating it.
Happy New Year Sammy! He was asleep even before our early count down, but in the morning Kate showed him his party whistle and he shouted "happy birthday".

What an eventful year it has been for the Freeman Family.

We started the year with two kids living in Heber, UT and ended it with three kids living in Clovis, CA. With a very difficult pregnancy, and a stressful move it has been a long year. Of course we are very blessed to have spent so much time with our awesome kids. This year the saying "the days are long, but the years are short" seems very accurate. The days of being pregnant and caring for a newborn at the same time packing a house and moving were long days. But the year went by too fast. I keep telling those kids "No Growing Up" but they never listen.

We are looking forward to what 2012 has to offer us. So much will be new and we can't wait to share all the new experiences with our little family.

Baby in a Bed

Not much is cuter than a naked babe straight out of a tub on your bed.


Though this comes close.